whom a copy of the eulogium of the author of _Vert-Vert_ was presented
as an offering. Some days after Bailly went to pay her a visit; did he
hope to hear her speak favourably of the new work? I know not. At all
events, our predecessor would have been ill rewarded for his curiosity.
"Do you know," said the great lady as soon as she saw him, "a Eulogy of
Gresset recently published? The author has sent me a copy of it, without
naming himself. He will probably come to see me; he may, perhaps, have
come already. What could I say to him? I do not think any one ever wrote
worse. He mistakes obscurity for profundity; it is the darkness before
the creation."
Notwithstanding all Bailly's efforts to change the subject of the
conversation, perhaps on account of those very efforts, the Marchioness
rose, goes in search of the pamphlet, puts it into the author's hands,
and begs of him to read aloud, if it be but the first page--quite
enough, she said, to enable one to judge of the rest.
Bailly used to read remarkably well. I leave it to be guessed whether,
on this occasion, he was able to exercise this talent. Superfluous
trouble! Madame de Créqui interrupted him at each sentence by the most
disagreeable commentaries, by exclamations such as the following:
"Detestable style!" "Confusion worse confounded!" and other similar
amenities. Bailly did not succeed in extorting any indulgences from
Madame de Créqui, when, fortunately, the arrival of another visitor put
an end to this insupportable torture.
Two years after this, Bailly having become the first personage in the
city, some booksellers collected all his opuscula and published them.
This time, the Marchioness, who had lost all recollection of the scene
that I have been describing, overpowered the Mayor of Paris with
compliments and felicitations on account of this same eulogy, which she
had before treated with such inhuman rigour.
Such a contrast excited the mirth of the author. Still, might I dare to
say so, Madame de Créqui was, perhaps, sincere on both occasions; had
the exaggerations of praise and of criticism been put aside, it would
not have been impossible to defend both opinions. The early pages of
the pamphlet might appear embarrassed and obscure, whilst in the rest
there might be found great refinement, elegance, and appreciations full
of taste.
ASSEMBLY OF THE NOTABLES.--BAILLY IS NAMED FIRST DEPUTY OF PARIS; AND
SOON AFTER DEAN OR SENIOR OF THE DEPUTIES OF THE COMMUNES.
The Assembly of the Notables had no other effect than to show in a
stronger light the disorder of the finances, and the other wounds that
were galling France. It was then that the Parliament of Paris asked for
the convocation of the States General. This demand was unfavourably
received by Cardinal de Brienne. Soon afterwards the convocation became
a necessity, and Necker, now in the ministry, announced, in the month of
November, 1788, that it was decreed in Council, and that the king had
even granted to the third estate a double representation, which had been
so imprudently disputed by the courtiers.
The districts were formed, on the king's convocation, the 21st of April,
1789. That day was the first day of Bailly's political life. It was on
the 21st of April that the Citizen of Chaillot, entering the Hall of the
_Feuillants_, imagined, he said, that "he breathed a new atmosphere,"
and regarded "as a phenomenon that he should have become something in
the body-politic, merely from his being a citizen."
The elections were to be made in two gradations. Bailly was named first
elector of his district. A few days after, at the general meeting, the
Assembly called him to the Board in quality of secretary. Thus it was
our fellow-academician who, in the beginning, drew up the celebrated
_procès-verbal_ of the meetings of the electors of Paris, so often
quoted by the historians of the revolution.
Bailly also took an active part in drawing up the records of his
district, and the records of the body of electors. The part he acted in
these two capacities could not be doubtful, if we judge of it by the
three following short quotations extracted from his memoirs: "The nation
must remember that she is sovereign and mistress to order every
thing.... It is not when reason awakes, that we should allege ancient
privileges and absurd prejudices.... I shall praise the electors of
Paris who were the first to conceive the idea of prefacing the French
Constitution with a declaration of the Rights of Man."
Bailly had always been so extremely reserved in his conduct and in his
writings, that it was difficult to surmise under what point of view he
would consider the national agitation of '89. Hence, at the very
beginning, the Abbé Maury, of the French Academy, proposed to unite
himself to Bailly, and that they should reside at Versailles, and have
an apartment in common between them. It is difficult to avoid a smile
when one compares the conduct of the eloquent and impetuous Abbé with
the categorical declarations, so distinct and so progressive, of the
learned astronomer.
On Tuesday, the 12th of May, the general assembly of the electors
proceeded to ballot for the nomination of the first deputy of Paris.
Bailly was chosen.
This nomination is often quoted as a proof of the high intelligence, and
of the wisdom of our fathers, two qualities which, since that epoch,
must have been constantly on the decline, if we are to believe the blind
Pessimists. Such an accusation imposed on me the duty of carrying the
appreciation of this wisdom, of this intelligence that is held up
against us, even to numerical correctness. The following is the result:
the majority of the votes was 159; Bailly obtained 173; this was
fourteen more than he required. If fourteen votes had changed sides the
result would have been different. Was this an incident, I ask, to
exclaim so much against?
Bailly showed himself deeply affected by this mark of the confidence
with which he was regarded. His sensibility, his gratitude, did not
prevent him, however, from recording in his memoirs the following
_naïve_ observation: "I observed in the Assembly of the Electors a great
dislike for literary men, and for the academicians."
I recommend this remark to all studious men who, by circumstances or by
a sense of duty, may be thrown into the whirlpool of politics. Perhaps I
may yield to the temptation of developing it, when I shall have to
characterize Bailly's connection with his co-laborers in the first
municipality of Paris.
The great question on the verification of the powers was already
strongly agitated, the day that Bailly and the other Deputies of Paris
for the first time were able to go to Versailles; our academician had
only spoken once in that majestic assembly, viz: to induce the adoption
of the method of voting by members being _seated_ or _standing_,--when,
on the 3d of June, he was named Senior of the Deputies of the Communes
(or Commons). Formerly, the right of presiding in the third house of the
kingdom belonged to the provost of the merchants. Bailly in his
diffidence thought that the assembly, in assigning the chair to him, had
wished to compensate the capital for the loss of an old privilege. This
consideration induced him to accept of a duty that he thought above his
powers,--he who always depicted himself as timid to an extreme, and not
possessing a facility of speaking.
Men's minds were more animated, more ardent in 1789 than those would
admit who always see in the present a faithful image of the past. But
calumny, that murderous arm of political party, already respected no
position. Knowledge, loyalty, virtue, did not suffice to shelter any one
from its poisoned darts. Bailly experienced it on the very day after his
nomination to such an eminent post as President of the Communes.
On the 29th of May, the Communes had voted an address to the king on the
constantly recurring difficulties that the nobility opposed to the union
of the States General in one assembly. In order to carry out this most
solemn deliberation, Bailly solicited an audience, in which the moderate
and respectful expression of the anxiety of six hundred loyal deputies
was to be presented to the monarch. In the midst of these strifes the
Dauphin died. Without taking the trouble to consult dates, the court
party immediately represented Bailly as a stranger to the commonest
proprieties, and totally deficient in feeling; he ought, they said, to
have respected the most allowable of griefs; his importunities had been
barbarous.
I had imagined that such ridiculous accusations were no longer thought
of; the categorical explanations that Bailly himself gave on this topic,
seemed to me as if they would have sufficed to convince the most
prejudiced. I was deceived, Gentlemen; the reproach of violence, of
brutal insensibility, has just been repeated by the pen of a clever and
a conscientious man. I will give his recital: "Scarcely two hours had
elapsed since the royal child had breathed his last sigh, when Bailly,
President of the Third Estate, insisted on admission to the king, who
had prohibited any one being allowed to intrude upon him. But so
positive was the demand, that they were obliged to yield, and Louis XVI.
exclaimed, 'There are then no fathers in that chamber of the Third
Estate.' The chamber very much applauded this trait of brutal
insensibility in Bailly, which they termed a trait of Spartan stoicism."
As many errors as words. The following is the truth. The illness of the
Dauphin had not prevented the two privileged orders from being received
by the king. This preference offended the Communes. They ordered the
President to solicit an audience. He discharged his duty with great
caution. All his proceedings were concerted with two ministers, Necker
and M. de Barentin. The king answered, "It is impossible for me to see
M. Bailly in the situation in which I am to-night, nor to-morrow
morning, nor to fix a day for receiving the deputation of the Third
Estate." The note ends with these words: "Show my note to M. Bailly for
his vindication."
Thus, on the day of these events the Dauphin was not dead; thus the king
was not obliged to yield, he did not receive Bailly; thus the chamber
had no act of insensibility to applaud; thus Louis XVI. perceived so
clearly that the President of the Communes was fulfilling the duties of
his office, that he felt it requisite to give him an exoneration.
The death of the Dauphin happened on the 4th of June. As soon as the
assembly of the Third Estate were informed of it, they charged the
President, I quote the very words, "to report to their majesties the
deep grief with which this news had penetrated the Communes."
A deputation of twenty members, having Bailly at their head, was
received on the 6th. The President thus expressed himself: "Your
faithful Communes are deeply moved by the circumstance in which your
majesty has the goodness to receive their deputation, and they take the
liberty to address to you the expression of all their regrets, and of
their respectful sensibility."
Such language can, I think, be delivered without uneasiness to the
appreciation of all good men.
Let us be correct; the Communes did not obtain at once the audience that
they demanded on account of the difficulties of the ceremonial. They
would have wished to make the Third Estate speak kneeling. "This
custom," said M. de Barentin, "has existed from time immemorial, and if
the king wished...." "And if twenty-five millions of men do not wish
it," exclaimed Bailly, interrupting the minister, "where are the means
to force them?" "The two privileged orders," replied the Guard of the
Seals, somewhat stunned by the apostrophe, "no longer require the Third
Estate to bend the knee; but, after having formerly possessed immense
privileges in the ceremonial, they limit themselves now to asking some
difference. This difference I cannot find." "Do not take the trouble to
seek for it," replied the President hastily: "however slight the
difference might be, the Communes will not suffer it."
This digression was required through a grave and recent error. The
memory of Bailly will not suffer by it, since it has afforded me the
opportunity of establishing, beyond any reply, that in our fellow
academician a noble firmness was on occasions allied to urbanity,
mildness, and politeness. But what will be said of the puerilities which
I have been obliged to recall, of the mean pretensions of the courtiers
on the eve of an immense revolution? When the Greeks of the Lower
Empire, instead of going on the ramparts valiantly to repel the attacks
of the Turks, remained night and day collected around some sophists in
their lyceums and academies, their sterile debates at least related to
some intellectual questions; but at Versailles, there was nothing in
action, on the part of two out of three orders, but the most miserable
vanity.
By an express arrangement, decreed from the beginning, among the Members
of the Communes, the Dean or President had to be renewed every week.
Notwithstanding the incessant representations of Bailly, this
legislative article was long neglected, so fortunate did the Assembly
feel in having at their head this eminent man, who to undeniable
knowledge, united sincerity, moderation, and a degree of patriotism not
less appreciated.
He thus presided over the Third Estate on the memorable days that
determined the march of our great revolution.
On the 17th of June, for instance, when the Deputies of the Communes,
worn out with the tergiversations of the other two orders, showed that
in case of need they would act without their concurrence, and resolutely
adopted the title of National Assembly,--they provided against presumed
projects of dissolution, by stamping as illegal all levies of
contribution which were not granted by the Assembly.
Again, on the 20th of June, when the Members of the National Assembly,
affronted at the Hall having been closed and their meetings suspended
without an official notification, with only the simple form of placards
and public criers, as if a mere theatre was in question, they assembled
at a tennis-court, and "took an oath never to separate, but to assemble
wherever circumstances might render it requisite, until the Constitution
of the Kingdom should be established and confirmed on solid
foundations."
Once more, Bailly was still at the head of his colleagues on the 23d of
June, when, by an inexcusable inconsistency, and which perhaps was not
without some influence on the events of that day, the Deputies of the
Third Estate were detained a long time at the servants' door of the Hall
of Meeting, and in the rain; while the deputies of the other two orders,
to whom a more convenient and more suitable entrance had been assigned,
were already in their places.
The account that Bailly gave of the celebrated royal meeting on the 23d
of June, does not exactly agree with that of most historians.
The king finished his speech with the following imprudent words: "I
order you, Gentlemen, to separate immediately."
The whole of the nobility and a portion of the clergy retired; while the
Deputies of the Communes remained quietly in their places. The Grand
Master of the Ceremonies having remarked it, approaching Bailly said to
him, "You heard the king's order, Sir?" The illustrious President
answered, "I cannot adjourn the Assembly until it has deliberated on
it." "Is that indeed your answer, and am I to communicate it to the
king?" "Yes, Sir," replied Bailly, and immediately addressing the
Deputies who surrounded him, he said, "It appears to me that the
assembled nation cannot receive an order."
It was after this debate, at once both firm and moderate, that Mirabeau
addressed from his place the well-known apostrophe to M. de Brézé. The
President disapproved both of the basis and the form of it; he felt that
there was no sufficient motive; for, said he, the Grand Master of the
Ceremonies made use of no menace; he had not in any way insinuated that
there was an intention to resort to force; he had not, above all, spoken
of bayonets. At all events, there is an essential difference between the
words of Mirabeau as related in almost all the Histories of the
Revolution, and those reported by Bailly. According to our illustrious
colleague the impetuous tribune exclaimed, "Go tell those who sent you,
that the force of bayonets can do nothing against the will of the
nation." This is, to my mind, much more energetic than the common
version. The expression, "We will only retire by the force of bayonets!"
had always appeared to me, notwithstanding the admiration conceded to
it, to imply only a resistance which would cease on the arrival of a
corporal and half-a-dozen soldiers.
Bailly quitted the chair of President of the National Assembly on the 2d
of July. His scientific celebrity, his virtue, his conciliating spirit,
had not been superfluous in habituating certain men to see a member of
the Communes preside over an assembly in which there was a prince of the
blood, a prince of the church, the greatest lords of the kingdom, and
all the high dignitaries of the clergy. The first person named to
succeed to Bailly was the Duke d'Orléans. After his refusal, the
Assembly chose the Archbishop of Vienne (Pompignan).
Bailly recalls to mind with sensibility, in his memoirs, the testimonies
of esteem that he obtained through his difficult and laborious
presidency. The 3d of July, on the proposition of the Duke de la
Rochefoucauld and of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, the National Assembly
sent a deputation to their illustrious ex-president, to thank him (these
are the precise words) "for his noble, wise, and firm conduct." The
electoral body of Bordeaux had been beforehand with these homages. The
Chamber of Commerce of that town, at the same time, decided that the
portrait of the great citizen should decorate their hall of meeting. The
Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, did
not remain insensible to the glory that one of their members had
acquired in the career of politics, and testified it by numerous
deputations. Finally, Marmontel, in the name of the French Academy,
expressed to Bailly "how proud that assembly was to count, among its
members an Aristides that no one was tired of calling the Just."
I shall not excite surprise, I hope, by adding, after such brilliant
testimonies of sympathy, that the inhabitants of Chaillot celebrated the
return of Bailly amongst them by fêtes, and fireworks, and that even the
curate of the parish and the churchwardens, unwilling to be surpassed by
their fellow-citizens, nominated the historian of antediluvian astronomy
honorary churchwarden. I will, at all events, repress the smile that
might arise from such private reminiscences, by reminding the reader
that a man's moral character is better appreciated by his neighbours, to
whom he shows himself daily without disguise, than that of more
considerable persons, who are only seen on state occasions, and in
official costume.
BAILLY BECOMES MAYOR OF PARIS.--SCARCITY.--MARAT DECLARES HIMSELF
INIMICAL TO THE MAYOR.--EVENTS OF THE 6TH OF OCTOBER.
The Bastille had been taken on the 14th of July. That event, on which,
during upwards of half a century, there have been endless discussions,
on opposite sides, was characterized in the following way, in the
address to the National Assembly, drawn up by M. Moreau de Saint Méry,
in the name of the City Committee:--
"Yesterday will be for ever memorable by the taking of a citadel,
consequent on the Governor's perfidy. The bravery of the people was
irritated by the breaking of the word of honour. This act (the strongest
proof that the nation who knows best how to obey, is jealous of its just
liberties,) has been followed by incidents that from the public
misfortunes might have been foreseen."
Lally Tollendal said to the Parisians, on the 15th of July: "In the
disastrous circumstances that have just occurred, we did not cease to
participate in your griefs; and we have also participated in your anger;
it was just."
The National Assembly solicited and obtained permission from the king on
the 15th of July, to send a deputation to Paris, which they flattered
themselves would restore order and peace in that great city, then in a
convulsed state. Madame Bailly, always influenced by fear, endeavoured,
though vainly, to dissuade her husband from joining the appointed
deputies. The learned academician naïvely replied, "After a presidency
that has been applauded, I am not sorry to show myself to my
fellow-citizens." You see, Gentlemen, that Bailly always admits the
future reader of his Posthumous Memoirs confidentially into his most
secret feelings.
The deputation completed its mandate at the Town Hall, to the entire
satisfaction of the Parisian populace; the Archbishop of Paris, its
President, had already proposed to go in procession to the Cathedral to
sing _Te Deum_; they were preparing to depart, when the Assembly, giving
way to a spontaneous enthusiasm, with an unanimous voice, proclaimed
Bailly Mayor of Paris, and Lafayette Commander-in-Chief of the National
Guard, the creation of which had just been authorized.
The official minutes of the Municipality state, that on being thus
unexpectedly named, Bailly bent forward to the Assembly, his eyes bathed
in tears, and that amidst his sobs he could only utter a few unconnected
words to express his gratitude. The Mayor's own recital differs very
little from this official relation. Still I shall quote it as a model of
sincerity and of modesty.
"I know not whether I wept, I know not what I said; but I remember well
that I was never so surprised, so confused, and so beneath myself.
Surprise adding to my usual timidity before a large assembly, I rose, I
stammered out a few words that were not heard, and that I did not hear
myself, but which my agitation, much more than my mouth, rendered
expressive. Another effect of my sudden stupidity was, that I accepted
without knowing what a burden I was taking on myself."
Bailly having become Mayor, and being tacitly accepted by the National
Assembly, even from the 16th of July, availed himself of his intimacy
with Vicq-d'Azyr, the Queen's physician, to persuade Louis XVI. to show
himself to the Parisians. This advice was listened to. On the 17th the
new magistrate addressed the king near the barrière de la Conférence, in
a discourse that began thus:--
"I bring to your Majesty the keys of your good city of Paris. They are
the same that were presented to Henry IV. He had reconquered his people,
here the people have reconquered their king."
The antithesis: "he had reconquered his people, here the people have
reconquered their king," was universally applauded. But since then, it
has been criticized with bitterness and violence. The enemies of the
Revolution have striven to discover in it an intention of committing an
outrage, to which the character of Bailly, and still more so the first
glance at an examination of the rest of his discourse, give a flat
contradiction. I will acknowledge, Gentlemen, I think that I have even a
right to decline the epithet of "unfortunate," which one of our most
respectable colleagues in the French Academy has pronounced relative to
this celebrated phrase, while doing justice at the same time to the
sentiments of the author. The poison contained in the few words that I
have quoted, was very inoffensive, since more than a year passed without
any courtier, though furnished like a microscope with, all the
monarchical susceptibilities, beginning to suspect its existence.
The Mayor of Paris was at the Hôtel de Ville in the midst of those same
Parisian citizens who inspired him, a few months before, with the
mortifying reflection already quoted: "I remarked in the Assembly of
Electors a dislike to literary people and Academicians." The feeling did
not appear to be changed.